Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-11-18
AT HACIENDA DEL NORTE.
Edward yilo and the Little Woman
Leave Buena Vista for that Place.

Especial Correspondence
HACIENDA DEL NoRTE Oct. 2S.-As
usual, while we were at Buena Vista
we took rooms at a regular Mexican
i'm, and as usual suffered from feas and
other namcless vermin, and rose in the
morning feeling sleepy and out of sorts
generally, but the little woman bright
cncd up as soon as she heard that
there was to be n wedding across the
street in the evening, and also by finding
a pretty little boy with a half Il shirt on,
who consented to stand still with his
finger in his mouth while she drew his
portrait.
AS soon as breakfast was over we sat
down on the stone edge of the dried up
fountain in the court yard and She sub
mitted with the best grace in the world
to have her clothes examined by the Sc
noritas and senoras of the place, who
focked about her like pigeons. They
looked at her dress and felt her trim little
waist, evidently puzzled by the whale
bones. They examined the stitches and
expressed disapprobation, and then eX
tended their researches so far as to want
to see the trimming of her petticoats, and
as she said afterward:
81 had to draw the line just there, Ed
ward | never saw anybody 50 curious
in my life. -
Iventured to suggest that she had done
pretty much the same thing with their
clothes, but she Indignantly answered.:
OTIS no such thing. Besides l am here
to study the natives, and oh, Edward,
there's a boy with centipede and a tar
antula. You must buy them at any price;
only be sure they are dead, or you can
have them killed, You know; but be care
full, they might bite, and they say there is
no cure for their bites except you can get
some Of their own oil, and | don't know
how one could do that before they were
dead or in time to cure Che bite, so do be
careful
went out and bought them both like
n dutiful spouse, and they were dead,
both of them; but it took her about TWEEN
ty-four hours to feel sure of the fact.
And now we are at Hacienda del Norte
We did not go in the diligenCia when we
left Bucna Vista, for as we were about to
engage our places some one remarked in
, our hearing that once when he rode over
the mountains in a diligence there was a
} woman and child afflicted with smallpox
among the passengers, and at once the
little WOmau's loving WatChfulness caused
her to say:
Edward, | give up. | will not allow
You to be exposed to the horrors of con
| tagion. | could never forgive myself if
you caught that horrible disease. Take n
private conveyance if yOu will, and we
will take our risk together, but | will
, never consent to your going in diligen-
! Ella. If you should get scalped wig
( could be bought, but nothing can ever
! hide the traces of smallpox. | shall never
fail in my duty, Edward"
Inwardly chuckling | engaged sort Of
vehicle with two wry mustangs driver
and an outrider or major domo, or what
! -ver they call them, and we started early
Our express stipulation with the driver
! and our man Friday was that whenever
We came to fine bit of scenery we were
! o halt as long as we wished, and twice
! ne told them to stop, but in the first in
tancc the horses were going up hill and
couldn't, and the next time they were
going down hill and they daren't, and
when we reached a plateau where there
; was view Of almost unparalleled extent
We were gravely told that 1T is not
} customary" and | knew that it would be
IN absolute physical and moral impossi-
)ilty to break that adamantine law of
custom.
We made, however, hurried sketches,
and hoped for Il better chance to catch
something of the exquisite beauty of the
| atmospheric effects.
No one knows what hard riding means
until he tries to traverse II Mexican noun
tain road. | was afraid that the little
woman would be shaken to bits. We had
been told beforehand that this was a
good road for BIRDS" and | had I'M
packed nay shotgun, but at last | dis
covered that those words signifed that
the birds were the only ones who could
travel it with comfort, still we bore up
bravely until sunset when we reached
our first stopping place, which was a
ranch where the owners received strangers.
And they did receive strangers in the
| biblical sense of the word. They took us
into their inner circle, to their hearts and
genuine hospitality. The little woman
was almost dead with fatigue, and the
women gathered around her, took off her
dusty wrap, brushed her hair, bathed her
face and hands, brought her warm milk
TO drink and figs to eas and laid her down
upon wonderful ned 10 rest, all the
while uttering the most caressing and the
tendcrest words, like mothers lowering
over sick children.
We have now been three days at this
hacienda, as it really is instead of O
rancho, and made several excursions tC
favorite points Of view, guided by Dor
Manuel, who, though but an uncducateC
Mexican, proves TO have an artistic eye
for natural beauty.
| had II slight accident this morning
which kept me in bed for couple o.
hours while the little woman mcnded my
clothes. / went out with Don Manuel t(
try and shoot a few birds, but my fee
slipped in some way and | rolled down
the side Of the Hill amidst perfect ava
lanche Of stones and dust, and landc,
fair and square into n thorny mcsqu
thicllct, which left me in such state tina
even the dogs barkcd ut me when | go
back to the hacienda.
Yet in spite of the figure ! cut not ont
single person laughed at me except n littl
gray buTo who laid his ears back ant
gave one long and loud haw hawl
And now that we are ready to leave "
have had all we could do to persuade TN
family to accept any pay for our accom-
mediation, and the women have been EN-
bracng and crying like sisters.